Leo Tolstoy
The Russian lion
Everything that I understand, I understand only because I love.
My name is Mike Hewitt -
Biography
After spending over 40 years in various evangelical Christian organisations I began to explore my many doubts about my beliefs. I had been an evangelist in the USA and the UK and a pastor and founder of churches here in the UK.
After reading Tolstoy’s The Kingdom of God is within you, I immediately related to his thoughts about organised religion and its dangers. I began to study his philosophical thoughts more deeply and realised that I had been misled over many theological matters and indeed had misled others, a far greater crime or sin, as fundamentalists would describe it!
I had lived in the USA during the turmoil in the South against the rights of the
minority blacks. Martin Luther King became an icon to me but because of his ‘political’
stance I was somewhat sceptical of the man and his beliefs. His speech ‘I have a
dream’ was perhaps the greatest speech ever given in the 20th century. I have since
re-
We then saw the remarkable success of Nelson Mandela, formerly a believer in physical opposition to the State, then converted to ‘passive resistance’ through the example of Ghandi and King.
Maybe a definition of passive resistance may help:-
n. Resistance by nonviolent methods to a government, an occupying power, or specific laws, as refusing to comply, demonstrating in protest, or fasting.
More on the subject can be see on the web-
The sole meaning of life is to serve humanity.
The two most powerful warriors are
patience and time.